Men don’t like appliances. We want things that can do lots of different things, that we can tweak and fiddle with, and then argue with each other about which one is better. Women aren’t like this, and because of this I have a feeling that it’s women who actually determine the eventual winners in consumer tech.

—Ultimi Barbarorum on the iPad. Who knows if it’s true. But I can say this, whenever we hear praise from women on a product, it gives me more confidence that we hit the “useful” mark.

If women do “determine the eventual winners in consumer tech,” it is all the more unfortunate for Apple that women find the name of their new product amusing or possibly even offensive because of its association with feminine hygiene.

I’m not sure men hate appliances but there may be something about the general tendency to favor things they can fiddle with. However I think many men, including myself, can apreciate things that do less and that can be done less to.

So since the winners are be defined by mass adoption you will have a better shot at making something women like and men can accept, even perhaps even a few of them van appreciate.

My guess is, in general, most people hate things (gadgets, software applications, business processes, etc.) that they deem as too complicated.

Not just women. Think about older people who are often scared to death of technology and gadgets that are overly complicated and prevent them from doing something simple like taking a photo, sending a text message to a kid or grand kid, even making a phone call. Think about the average person who is just too busy to deal with all of the stuff that gets in the way of them achieving their goals.

Unfortunately many of these things get in our way with their cleverness.

This is one reason I think Apple has excelled. Sure they’re often criticized by the digerati for omitting this feature or that function. They’re constantly second guessed but have largely ended up being correct where it matters…with the customer.

Take the iPad and multitasking. My guess is 8 (maybe 9) out of 10 people that are interested in and will buy and use it don’t care at all. And by the time they do care about multitasking Apple will have delivered it.

It’s my view that a product and tool builders we have a responsibility to be something of an advocate for our customer and users. I think it was Jason who previously mentioned the idea of being an “editor” and the pizza guys in a previous post who reflected a similar sentiment that we have a responsibility (not in an arrogant, smug or elitist way) to help cut away the noise, to do some of the thinking our customers and users as a service to them. To take some of that burden off their shoulders. Very often even when we provide a “product” we are really providing a service and that service is cutting away all of the crap…complexity, choices, even features, etc. to help them get to their desired destination more easily and quickly and with less pain.

@Pies Don’t assume there is a causal relationship there just because of that correlation. It may well be that many people use Windows for a wide variety of other reasons and even in spite that “fiddle-ability”.

@Chris Cuilla Of course, people choose their gadgets for a great variety of reasons, and I don’t agree with the notion technology companies win because women in particular are their fans, or because you can’t fiddle with their products.

@Pies: Windows let’s you fiddle more with it? The tech geek in me rejoiced when I switched to MacOS from win exactly because I could fiddle more and I felt less constrained by the operating system. The big difference is that on the mac you don’t have to see the fiddling options but it’s still there for the geeks.

It’s what annoyed me when I used KDE on my linux machine. Sometimes it was great to play with the settings but when you have to dig through 100 preference panels to find the place to change the damn desktop background made me stop using it day to day.

Justin

on 29 Jan 10

People still think in such dualistic ways?

Since when can a techie not appreciate good design? There’s got to be some reason why so many programmers have switched to OS X when they could have simply stayed with Linux or another Unix variant.

Just seems to reinforce another myth: Usability is only for old people and the computer illiterate.

Eh, I dunno. As a hobbyist woodworker, if I have to “fiddle” with anything in my shop too much, it makes me kind of nervous. Too much fiddling invariably means that my 45 degree cut is actually 4.5 degrees or the table saw binds the workpiece at the back of the blade.

I only fiddle with my jointer when the knives need resharpening and that represents an hour of precious shop time lost precisely because I refuse to buy all the little trinkets and gadgets that are supposed to help you set knives perfectly or whatever.

So, I guess I really like appliances or tools that only have an ‘On’ switch and one setting: depth, heat, speed, RPM, etc.

Wm Shore

on 31 Jan 10

This is just dumb, men ARE more transfixed at hardware stores (I have lots of tools I’ve never figured out) but I often think it’s a primal way of taking comfort in our maleness – in other words it’s a gender-comfort thing (women certainly do it too – have you ever seen their closets?). I just heard some guy on NPR waxing poetic about a symphony transcending this earthly plane or something similar – and a friend of mind said “that’s the gayest thing I’ve ever heard..” – and he was right – but I doubt seriously that the guy saying it was actually gay – he just didn’t get the straight-guy memo – he got the art-music-school memos (someone should buy him a power-tool – really!). Anyway, that’s just my off-the-cuff thoughts, gotta go watch some porn now..